"Aranyth!...Aranyth!" A voice echoed in my waking mind as I stirred from my sleep. "Araaaaanyth!"
"What?" I mumbled, turning over on my side, trying to ignore the pest nudging my shoulder.
"Wake up!"
"What do you want?" I growled, blindly slapped his hand away.
"There is a light in the Rath Dinen..."
"So?"
"Rath Dinen hasn't been opened since Denethor attempted to burn Uncle Faramir, Aranyth. I have a feeling something is happening..." I sat up, knowing that messing with my brother's feelings was not a smart thing to do. When my brother sensed or felt something was wrong, he was normally right. Though...why he always came to me I had no idea.
"Have you spoken to Ada?" I asked him.
"No. I cannot find him anywhere."
"Cannot find him anywhere? Have you even tried searching for him?"
"No. I do not think he should be bothered. He only just returned home..."
"What do you propose we do?" I inquired, knowing he had something up his sleeve. He quirked an elegant eyebrow, strikingly resembling Uncle Elladan, Uncle Elrohir, and Ada when doing so.
"Where has your sense of adventure gone?"
"Well, let me see..." I glanced out the window nearby. "It so happens to be two o' clock in the morning-" I was about to continue when something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Brows furrowed in confusion and curiosity, I slid out of bed and walked over to the open window, peering over the edge to see Rath Dinen, the place where they buried the Kings and Stewards of old. Just as my brother had said, there was a light flickering within. "It seems you were speaking the truth, Gwador-nin. I suppose we should check it out."
*Time Skip, ten minutes*
"Where are the guards?" I asked as my brother and I quietly made our way through the halls very cautiously, as to not wake our parents or siblings and family that had come over.
"Their stations. I do not know how they have not noticed the light, but they have not." He whispered. That bewildered me as well.
"Perhaps this was planned..."
"No. Otherwise, I would have heard of it."
"Is this the first time it has happened?"
"No. This is the fourth day. The calling is growing stronger."
"Calling?" I repeated, glancing over my shoulder to face my brother as I peered around a corner to see where exactly the Guards were stationed.
"You cannot feel it?"
"No...Though I do hear something." It was true. I could hear a sound, as though someone had struck a wine glass and left it vibrating.
"Interesting..." He followed me as I quickly rounded the corner, leaping into the air, off the balcony rail, and into a nearby tree. Because we were mostly Elvin and part mortal, we were close to being lightweight, had sharp hearing, Elvin features, senses, and a bit of foresight from Grandfather, according to Ada and Nana. Though, it was mostly my brother who had foresight. We crawled from branch to branch then silently dropped to the ground, stealthily moving through the shadows to reach Rath Dinen.
"One problem, my dear Gwador-nin." I placed my hands onto my hips, gazing at the entrance of the tomb. "How do we get in?" I turned to face him when I realized he was not there. "Wha-Where did you go?" Something struck my head and I looked up to see my brother waving to me from above, the front half of his body poking out from a hole about the entrance.
"Up here, Gwethil-nin!" he whispered, knowing that I could hear him.
"How in Middle-Earth did you get up there?" I wondered under my breath. He smirked and went back inside. I looked around. There was absolutely nothing he could have climbed up from... I sighed and noticed a hole near the ground, hidden by the vines over it. "Ah, so that is how you did it." Once inside, I realized how damp and dark it was. It also felt and seemed quite dreary. I shivered just from glancing around and noticing the many places the Kings and Stewards of old had been place. Most were probably dust by now. "Now...Where did he go?" I looked around for my brother, but could find no sign of him. I began walking further into the tomb, thinking he must have gone ahead, knowing him. As I walked, the sound grew more noticeable, as well as a voice I had a hard time understanding. It was raspy and chanting in a language I did not know. As I walked further into Rath Dinen, the deep foreboding feeling I felt gradually grew within me until I knew there was danger nearby. But what could possible be threatening here?
"Sauron was defeated many years ago..." I murmured to myself as I turned yet another corner. I glanced over my shoulder when I sensed someone following, but could not see any sign of anyone. With a raised eyebrow, I shrugged and continued, halting abruptly when I heard the sound of someone behind me. I whipped around but there was no one. Straining my ears a bit more, I turned and continued on my way, wondering where the heck my brother had gone. When I was about to turn yet another corner, something shot out and grasped my tunic, tugging on it and startling me. I turned, eyes albeit wide until I noticed a small little body behind me. My eyes narrowed.
"Eldarion, son of Aragorn!" I nearly exclaimed. "What in Arda are you doing in Rath Dinen?!" Eldarion didn't reply, instead popping his two fingers, middle and pointer, into his mouth, gazing up at me with his piercing blue eyes. "How did you get in here?" I asked him. He looked up at me as if to say it were obvious. "You followed us, didn't you?" I sighed and shook my head. Eldarion was a strange but special child. He was young, being only two, and was growing as an Elfling would. Albeit slowly. Though we could tell he was quite intelligent and quick to observe. We do not know how, but Eldarion could always get himself into odd situations. One time, my brother and I were caught in a skirmish with Orcs left over from the fall of Mordor. In the middle of the battle, we spotted Eldarion just calmly walking through, studying the Orcs and watching as we killed them.
It worried us to death as we fought to come to his side yet, somehow, he managed to escape unscathed! Unlike my brother and I, who did all the fighting. I believe the child has some sort of ability...Some sort of talent. Either that, or the Gods loved the little one. "Nevermind." I shook my head at him then knelt down. "Come along then, Tithen Penneth." I grinned when Eldarion happily allowed me to pick him up and carry him. "Now...Where could he be?" I wondered aloud, searching for that irritating brother of mine. "I sure hope Nana and Ada do not find that we have left..." I murmured as I continued. Just as we were about to leave the room we were in, I heard a voice cry out.
"Aranyth!" I was immediately sprinting towards the voice with Eldarion close to me, his eyes calmly scanning his surroundings, taking everything in, two fingers still in his little mouth. I slid around yet another corner and ran through a darkened hallway. There was light up ahead and...someone was standing in the midst of it. Him.
"Gwador-nin! What is it?" I slid to a stop next to him and searched for any wounds or injuries, fearing something had happened.
"Look." he raised a hand, his finger indicating to something before us. I followed his gaze towards one of the sarcophagus' in the room. There was a light entrapped within and leaking through the cracks of the lid.
"This is the light we were seeing?" I wondered, walking over to it cautiously. "This is odd...What is in it?" I touched the top of the lid. Eldarion whimpered and buried his face into my shoulder, which made me wonder whether we should remain or take our leave. "Eldarion, remain here." I set him down and he immediately hid behind me, his head peeking round me to see the sarcophagus. For some odd reason, there was no King or Steward carving over it or their names engraved onto the lid. "Come help me open it."
"Are you certain, Arayth? Why not leave it be?"
"I need to know what it is." I responded.
"Otherwise you will not rest for days thinking upon it."
"Yes." I nodded and the two of us pushed.
"Eru! The lid is heavy!" I had to agree with that. It was!
"A little...more!" I encouraged and we shoved once again. This time, the lid flew off and shattered to pieces on the nearby wall but before we could realize what we had done, a large gust of wind blew from within the sarcophagus, and it sounded as though something were groaning along with it. We raised our arms to shield our eyes from the dust and debris that was blown from the coffin and the room. When we lowered them, we stood still, glancing at one another. Eldarion was nearly hyperventilating, eyes wide with the raw emotion of fear. I took this as a sign that something was definitely wrong and that we should leave at once. But, of course, curiosity got the better of us as we leaned forward to get a better look when something shot up from the grave, cloaked and covered in black with blood, and turned towards us, a blood-curdling shriek piercing the silence that hung o'er us. Of course, the natural reaction for us was to scream, yell, and cry. I screamed, my brother yelped, and Eldarion cried out when it lunged towards us.
"Noro! Noro Lim!" (Run!) my brother cried as I snatched Eldarion up and bolted from the room.
"Gwaem!" (let's go) I called back to my brother, grasping his wrist as we ran as fast as we could with the creature floating behind us. It shrieked and flew faster, nearly catching us as we ducked around a corner.
"This way!" We continued to flee from the creature through the labyrinth and finally found the secret entrance by accident. The creature came closer as I attempted to open it whilst holding Eldarion. "Move!" I did and my brother gave it a try, barreling into the wall twice but to no avail. "Together!" We did and the hidden door flung open, causing us to fly through and collapse into a heap on the other side whilst the door spun. I turned and saw the creature coming.
"Shut the door!" I cried, rushing over to get it shut, but when I reached out, my hand caught on the handle and it flung me onto the other side with the creature, which was now crawling towards me. And it was crawling quite fast! I screamed- at least, I think it was my scream but it might have been Eldarion's.
"Aranyth!" I felt something yank on the back of my shirt and my brother wrapped his arms around me as we fell back and the door spun closed. My brother grunted as his back collided into the ground with me on top of him. Eldarion threw himself at me as I sat up and nearly cried-for he was a bit too shocked to cry-, burying his head in the crook of my neck as he wrapped his little arms tightly and securely around me. We instantly stood and began to run away from the area. The further we got from the creep, the better.
"Aranyth! Eldarion! Estel!" Nana came rushing round the corner with Ada, Uncle Faramir, Dan and Ro. I rushed over to Ada, who enveloped us in a protective embrace as Nana took hold of Estel, who had a cut on his shoulder that was bleeding.
"What happened?" Ada demanded to know, gazing down at the trembling Eldarion in my arms and my pale complexion.
"It was after us!" Estel began, gazing at the wall.
"It?" Nana, Faramir, Dan and Ro repeated.
"What was?" Ada's voice grew a little threatening as his hand subconsciously reached for his blade.
"I do not know what it was, Ada..." I murmured. "I have never seen anything like it before..." Eldarion crawled into his Ada's arms while Estel and I went over to the nearby window and looked through it.
"What did it look like?" Faramir asked, searching round for any threat. Estel and I glanced at one another, wondering if we should tell them. But if we did...
"It must have been a thief." Estel muttered, glancing at him wounded shoulder.
"Yes...Just a thief." I agreed.
Aragorn narrowed his eyes and I swallowed. He knew we were hiding something from him.
"Goodnight, Ada, Nana, Uncle Faramir, Uncle Dan and Ro." I bid them goodnight and hastily walked away with Estel after me. Eldarion made a sound and we turned to face him with a raised eyebrow. He reached out to me, making another sound.
"I believe Eldarion would like to remain with you tonight, Aranyth." Ada told me with a slight smile.
"Very well, tithen gwador." I grinned and took Eldarion with me then headed towards our rooms.
Once his children passed from sight, Aragorn turned to Arwen, who had the same thoughts as he.
"They are hiding something from us." she told him.
"I know. I noticed their clothing as well. They ventured away from the palace which would explain why Elrudan was unable to find them."
"Where could they have gone?" Faramir asked.
"I do not know, but they managed to sneak past the guards..." Aragorn had a feeling something had caught his children's attention but decided not to press them to tell him. "Whatever it is, they will come to us in time."
As he bid his fellow friends and wife a wonderful rest of the night and took his leave to attend to some paperwork, an ill feeling overcame him. He halted in his tracks, fearing that something was amiss... He shook his head. Everything was well. The War of the Ring was over. He sat at his desk and began to sign the papers left to him by Faramir.
He was breathing heavily as he pushed himself to run faster. Aragorn sprinted through the woods, willing his feet to quicken their speed. He cried out, hoping in vain that he would find them safe and sound at their camp. To see that they were unharmed, waiting for him. He began to run towards the sounds of battle. The Lord cringed when a sound pierced the atmosphere that hung o'er them. He felt his heart forget to beat as he identified the sound as Aranyth's scream. A cry of fear and pain.
Time skipped to where he now stood at the edge of a battlefield to find his child facing a Nazgul. He watched helplessly as his eldest son fight valiantly, head held high despite the wounds inflicted upon him. Aranyth was also fighting for her life, holding Eldarion in her arms.
Suddenly, Aragorn saw Estel freeze then collapse to the ground, murmuring something he could not hear, a Morgul Blade through his heart. Aranyth cried and screamed, fighting to reach her brother when two Nazful flanked her. Aragorn stood, horrified as Aranyth dropped to the ground, enveloping Eldarion in a protective embrace, her eyes locked on his as the Nazguls brought down their fiery blades.
The sound of metal striking flesh rang through his ears as Aranyth's body fell to the ground, her once flaming eyes now dull and lifeless, staring into his...
Hey, readers! I sure hope you enjoyed reading this! This is my first LOTR fanfic and I had a bunch of fun writing it! I am an absolute fan of Tolkien's work and as you already know, it is about Aranyth, Estel's twin, the son and daughter of Aragorn and Arwen. (I made the two up but Eldarion is truly Aragorn and Arwen's son according to Tolkien). I will do my best with publishing every few days or weekly and since I just got out of school, meaning I should have no problem in doing so. If any of you have anything to tell me, please do so! I would really enjoy it if you would give me a few pointers or tell me what I could work on so I can better my writing. If you have any questions, I would love to answer them! Until next time!